Second Chances
by Bloodredalchemist
Summary: Fullmetal Alchemist Bluebird's Illusion Fan fiction.Pride!Ed ending continuation...Al and Mustang survive the crumbling building and head out to find out where the Fullmetal Alchemist went.
1. Chapter 1: Revival

For those who don't know, at some point in the recent past, an unofficial FMA game was released in China, based on the FMA manga. This game was called, Fullmetal Alchemist: BlueBird's Illusions. Story line in a nutshell of the game is: Ed gets Al's body back, before the entire Xing, Lust, or Greed moments. There are Four optional endings to this game, and I very much preferred the one in which, Ed, Al and Mustang all die. Ed gets turned into the Homunculus Pride by 'Father' after his death. I didn't like Mustang dying so...I gave a weird explanation to their inexplicable survival! Hope you enjoy. And yes if you absolutely despise this, then visit Orange Kitty Alchemist-Sony, and read the 'Of Homunculus story'. I wrote four versions of that story and that was the fifth compiled version. A couple of moments from there might be in here...I scare myself sometimes...especially with the 3rd version...

oh! I do not own FMA, because if i did, that would mean i would be at least into my 30's, live in Japan, speak fluent Japanese, and be rich. I also Don't own FMA BlueBird's Illusion, because if i did, I would live in China, be one of ten Chinese male College students, and would be able to understand mandarin properly...

Slowly, ever slowly, he regained consciousness. He wondered if he was dead…The sudden bursts of pain that had just registered with his oxygen-deprived brain said otherwise. Dammit, was he the unluckiest guy in the world? He always had too much paperwork on his desk, a trigger-happy First Lieutenant who threatened to shoot him if he didn't finish, and a short State Alchemist to deal with, who constantly insulted him….And now he was stuck with heavy rocks and things around and on top of him. Then as if a light bulb had been turned on, he remembered what he was doing there.

"EDWARD! ALPHONSE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Those two boys were in here somewhere too. _Please let them be alive, Please let them be alive…_he thought desperately, as he continued to shout their names. A groan answered his call. He tried to turn to see which boy it was, but his neck, told him quite sternly, that if he tried to move, it would hurt.

"Edward! Alphonse!" he shouted.

"I…I'm here…"groaned a faint voice. He recognized it as Alphonse's voice, weak though it was.

Good, the younger Elric brother was still alive. Though he'd never tell Ed, Alphonse was the weaker of the two brothers. So if Alphonse survived, logically, the tougher of the two, the Fullmetal one, would be alive.

"Al, have you seen Ed?" he shouted. He had no idea if the boy was above or below him, so shouting at the top of his lungs would be best if he wanted to be heard.

"Ed?" echoed the boy's voice, groggily, then suddenly as if he had been woken up with a pail full of cold water, he began to yell at the top of his lungs.

"NII-SAN! NII-SAN!" he shrieked.

_So that's how it would be…_he thought. Suddenly, he heard voices above him, they were faint, but they were definitely there.

"HEY!" he yelled. The voices stopped.

"HEY! It's ME, GENERAL MUSTANG!" he roared at the top of his lungs, and immediately regretted it, when his chest told him quite insistently to shut the hell up and quit yelling so loud.

The voices above began to talk louder and more urgently, and the sounds of metal scraping on stone, told him that the rescue team was on its way.

In an insanely short amount of time, Roy Mustang's head was uncovered.

"Quick, Alphonse is somewhere around this area!" he told the team.

"We've already located Alphonse-kun, he's on his way to the hospital just like you are," said First Lieutenant Hawkeye.

"Did you find him? Did you find my brother!" yelled an almost hysterical Alphonse from a nearby stretcher. Mustang looked down as Major Armstrong began uncovering the rest of him. He didn't want to say it, but he knew full well that Edward was no longer in this world.

Pride sat alongside Envy watching the excavation team dig up Alphonse Elric and General Roy Mustang.

"Oh my….they're still alive…" said Envy slightly surprised. He could have sworn, he'd run both of them through, and that they had been quite dead when the place came down. He glanced towards Pride, who watched everything through those dull golden eyes. Edward Elric must have done that transmutation, even in the bloody state he had been in, well bloody was an understatement, half-dead, was more like it.

"Guess, the Fullmetal Shrimp was better than we thought he was," he told the shorter Homunculus.

When Pride turned to face him, he had forced himself not to wince. No matter how long the new Homunculus would be with him, he would never get used to seeing the face of Edward Elric stare back at him.

He had begun to fear the midget's outbursts to his name-calling, especially since the blonde alchemist had actually managed to kill him, during the period in which Edward had been their prisoner. Not to mention the fact that Ed had killed him with three broken ribs, a large tear in his stomach and maybe a punctured lung…He would never hear the end of it from Lust, who would constantly taunt him about it, for the rest of their eternal lives.

"Do we really have to stay here? Who are these people anyway?" asked Pride irritably.

Envy had half the mind to tell Pride to quit whining, shut up, stop asking questions, and possibly go back to his former behavioural pattern of being quiet and doing as he was told.

"That's the Flame Alchemist, General Roy Mustang. The kid is Alphonse Elric, brother

to the Fullmetal Alchemist, and Yes, dammit, we have to stay here," he growled.

Pride took one look at the irritably deadly look on Envy's face and said nothing. It would be better on his part if he didn't get Envy mad at him again. The green haired Homunculi had a nasty habit of being able to find what would hurt the most…


	2. Chapter 2:Enter Scarlet

Three months in the god damned hospital. Mustang was finding himself actually missing the office work. At least, Hawkeye was giving him inside reports of Amestris' political situation.

Since the 'mysterious' disappearance of the Fuhrer, the country had been in an uproar. The military higher-ups had been coming up with all sorts of conspiracy theories; almost all of them put Mustang as the perpetrator. The more intelligent ones focused around the Fullmetal Alchemist's mysterious disappearance. One colonel had been sent to the Northern front for insinuating the possibility that the Fuhrer was part of a secret organization bent on the destruction of the country for a less than honorable purpose. Mustang had wanted to meet this Colonel, to see how much he knew, but unfortunately he had been hit by a stray bullet and died.

Now he was constantly being ambushed by reporters and military investigators. His reputation for doing anything to get a promotion was not helping him whatsoever. At least, he would be able to get back to work soon and clear up most of this mess.

He stopped in front of the room where Alphonse was recovering. The teenager was firm in his belief that Edward was not dead, despite the fact that they had found the Fullmetal Alchemist's namesake parts amidst the rubble. The boy was now fervently studying for the State Alchemist title. Mustang hoped he wouldn't make it. With the current situation, most of the senior officials were already planning war against the North. Of the two brothers, Alphonse was the gentler one, well considering Ed always had to defend his pride, no one was really surprised. He knocked twice on the door.

"Come in," said Alphonse.

The boy was sitting in bed with a ton of books on the bedside. Mustang noticed that they were all neatly stacked, in order, and alphabetic. He recognized most of these books as ones he had studied himself in his younger days. In Alphonse's hands was a red leather notebook with all its pages intact with careful and deliberate writing on its crisp white pages. Ed was right, Alphonse really was quite suited to housework, the way he kept things organized, how everything was neat and tidy…Almost any woman would be envious of how he kept everything so clean.

"Oh General, nice to see you. You're being released soon, aren't you?" asked Alphonse pleasantly.

Mustang smiled slightly. Alphonse was the politer one, who always remembered everyone's names, rank and wife's name. Alphonse would constantly have to apologize for Edward's rudeness. Mustang surmised that Al, probably didn't know that Ed never called him General, but instead had continued to refer to him as Colonel, although it was Ed who had gotten his previous job.

"Alphonse-kun, you're not seriously going to try to get the qualification are you?" he asked, a little while into their conversation. Alphonse's eyes showed rock solid determination.

"Nii-san isn't dead. I'm going to become a State Alchemist and find him," he said firmly.

Mustang had been hoping he wouldn't have to tell Alphonse why Ed would never come back.

"Alphonse….we died back there…" he said slowly, "Edward is gone…"

Alphonse, firmly shook his head.

"Nii-san is not dead. I know it," he said. Mustang could sense fiery resolution in the boy's voice. _It's not that he believes him to be alive_…thought Mustang, _Alphonse wants Edward to be alive…_

"I had a six inch hole straight through my chest; you had your lungs pierced. The doctors found no evidence of any such injuries," fired off Mustang rapidly, "The fact that Edward's body isn't there anymore, supports the theory that he attempted human transmutation on both of us" said the man forcefully.

Alphonse just stared at him.

"Then I'll bring him back," declared the boy, " I know it's possible. Nii-san brought my body and soul back together. I'll bring him back…" said Alphonse fiercely.

"You'll have to sacrifice an awful lot of stuff to do _that_" declared an unfamiliar voice from the doorway. It was a girl about Ed's age, with pale blonde hair and aquamarine blue eyes. She looked weird, wearing the blue military uniform, with her…unique hairstyle. Her hair was drawn back in a ponytail, with two relatively large red beads along the right side of her head, with two white feathers dangling from those beads.

She glared at them in a very Ed-like manner.

"Yes, I know I look very weird," she growled at them both. "Lieutenant-Colonel Dolan, Scarlet Alchemist," she said, introducing herself.

"Well, then Lieutenant, why are you here?" demanded Mustang.

"Lieutenant-Colonel," muttered the girl irritably, "I asked Hawkeye where you were, and she said you were here," she said, then as an afterthought, added "sir…"

"Your purpose in being here?" asked the General.

"I heard you wished to speak to the Colonel who started the rumor of the ex-Fuhrer could possibly belong to an organization that…" she started to say, when Mustang simply nodded, cutting her off short.

"Well, in short, I am that person," said the girl simply.

"I thought that person was hit by a stray bullet and died," said Alphonse surprised.

The girl looked surprised and irritated at the same time, a remarkable feat, in Mustang's opinion.

"I was hit by a stray bullet, but I didn't die, much to the disappointment of the man who shot me," she said irritably.

"Weren't you sent up to the Northern front?" asked Mustang, growing more and more confused.

"Well…No…I got shot on my way home" she said simply.

Suddenly she got a funny look on her face.

"Excuse me," she said, walking over to the sink in the room and promptly vomited blood.

Both the General and Alphonse stared in utter shock. They had not expected anything of the such happening during their conversation, they hadn't even expected this girl, much less anyone to suddenly pop in.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and smiled apologetically at them.

"Sorry about that…"she said, to the two of them who were staring at her as if she was an alien or something.

"A-are you okay?" asked Alphonse, his voice shaking slightly from shock. She waved her hand dismissively.

"Oh, I'm fine!" she said, "I've lived with this condition for about 3 years now…"she said glancing down at her bloody hand.

Mustang was the first to recover.

"So I take it you know about the Homunculi," he said staring straight into the girl's eyes.

"Of course I do!" she said indignantly, "Why else on Earth would I make allusions to the fact that the Fuhrer was acting on a different set of morals?" she asked, washing her hands.

"How much do you know about them?" asked Alphonse.

She looked up at him, a steely hard look in her eyes.

"Far too much for my own good," she said, looking at both of them.


	3. Chapter 3: A matter of Pride

Envy was bored out of his mind. 5 months of doing absolutely nothing. All there had been to do was periodically check up on the Flame Alchemist and the new Soul Binding Alchemist.

The younger Elric brother had actually made it through the grueling State Alchemist exams. His method included the ability to transfer a piece of his soul into inanimate objects and to control them. On top of that, he could do it without a transmutation circle. Not that Envy really cared or anything. Alphonse Elric was making no move to try and hunt them down.

Recently, all Envy had been doing was trying to get Pride to play poker with him and Lust or do something a bit more exciting than read books. All the short blonde Homunculus had been doing was read, read, read…and he even wasn't reading anything interesting! He read books about random scientists and alchemists and weird literature from Father's library. Envy didn't really care much for books, and even less for literature. Pride was lounging on the couch, reading a book about human transmutation. Envy, when bored, grew irritable at best, and downright nasty at worst. And today, was not a good day.

"Hey Envy! Did you know that the average adult human body contains 250g of saltpeter? And that saltpeter is the stuff they put in gunpowder to make it explode?" asked the Edward Elric look-alike.

"No," growled Envy, "And I honestly don't care…" he said grinding his teeth.

"Oh," said Pride, shrugging and continuing to read the book. Suddenly Envy grabbed the book and chucked it across the room.

"Hey!" shouted Pride in protest and irritation.

"Dammit Pride, why the hell are you so BORING?" roared Envy, jumping on Pride's stomach.

"Envy, Get. Off. Me!" growled Pride, shoving a red marked fist up towards Envy's head, hitting the green-haired Homunculus' neck, snapping his head backwards. Immediately, Envy's neck reset itself and the purple eyed teenager was far from amused.

"Oh that's it! You are SO in for it!" he roared.

Although Envy hated fighting, when he was mad enough, he became quite good at it. Pride on the other hand, was used to fighting and was a little more than 'quite good'. However, the blonde Homunculus was at a disadvantage since Envy was on top of him and weighed a great deal more than he appeared to.

"Just…what is going on here?" asked a deep, authoritative voice.

Both Homunculi looked up to see Wrath, the former leader of the country of Amestris, staring at them with his one eye. His other eye was hidden behind an eye-patch, but both knew that Wrath could see with that eye.

Suddenly Envy realized what he and Pride looked like. With him on top of the smaller Homunculus, whose hair was presently a mess; it really did look bad for Envy. Pride, however didn't seem to get what everything seemed like. He saw an opening and took it, slamming his fist into the green-haired boy's head, knocking him off of him. To make things worse, Lust had come into the room right before Pride had punched him. The woman had an evil look in her eyes.

"Envy! After all this time, I never knew you felt that strongly for the Fullmetal midget!" she said in fake shock.

"Shut up! You damned old hag!" roared Envy, getting up off the floor, charging now at the dark haired woman. He never got closer than ten feet. Lust's extendable claws had him pinned to the wall.

"You've got a new job to do," smiled the woman.

Alphonse glanced over to the Scarlet Alchemist at another desk. Ever since he had become a State Alchemist, he had only had desk jobs. Scarlet said that that was normal, since he was only 15, and that his commanding officer was General Mustang. She insisted on people calling her Scarlet, though she never told him why she was called so. She said that she didn't like her real name very much, and preferred her State Alchemist name. Scarlet had helped him study and make it through the exam, her presence as an examiner had reassured and calmed him down during the final stages of the exam. Alphonse had at some points actually considered asking her out for dinner or something, but hadn't managed to summon the courage to do so. Suddenly the General came in with a serious look on his face. "Alphonse-kun, Scarlet, get your things, we're going," he said abruptly.

"What is this?" asked Scarlet, not bothering with formalities with the General. In fact, she never did bother with calling him General or even sir. She knew too many people from the office to maintain a professional relationship with any of them. Apparently, she had known Hawkeye as a small child, Falman was her father's friend, Fuery was her uncle on her mother's side, and Havok, Breda and Armstrong were not related to her in any manner whatsoever, which had surprised Mustang greatly when she had explained how she knew everyone.

"A murder investigation," he said. The General had given up trying to get her to remember her rank and the formal structure of the army. She was just like Ed in that respect: seeing people for who they were, not what titles they wore.

"Murder? Isn't that the police's jurisdiction?" asked Alphonse as they continued through the hallways of the military headquarters.

Mustang nodded, but continued his explanation.

"Yes, murder investigations are usually under the city police's control, but for serial murderers like this guy, the military is usually called in," he said, grabbing his jacket from a nearby coat hanger.

"Figures," muttered Scarlet, adjusting the red balls in her hair, "Get the big shots to make a good scene about it," she growled, pulling on gloves. Mustang glanced towards the girl coolly.

"I take it this isn't your first murder investigation," he said, watching the girl's eyes.

"My parents were murdered when I was 10. The police were at a dead end, so they called in the military. They made a good scene about doing something about it, and never found the perpetrator," she said, in a conversational tone of voice. Alphonse looked surprised.

"Your parents were murdered?"

"Yeah…now I know why…"she said tapping the side of her head. Alphonse got the meaning instantly. It had had something to do with the Homunculi.

Scarlet glanced towards Alphonse.

"This isn't pretty," she said with a strained smile, "I'm not sure you'd really like to see this," she said sincerely. He shook his head.

"No, I'll see it," he said determinedly. She looked him in the eye for a moment before shrugging and stepping away from the doorway. The predominant colour of the room was red. Blood red. The walls were spattered with blood, and flecks of meat. In the center of the room on the floor, was a red lump that was all that remained of a young woman. Alphonse felt his body seize up at the sight of it. He felt himself being reduced back into a ten year old boy, trapped inside a suit of armour, holding his horribly injured older brother, staring at their mother's apparent transmutation. He felt his breathing quicken, and he was almost gasping for air.

"Hey! Are you alright? Hey!" he heard voices shout, as his world turned black.

Mustang recognized this state. He had first seen that look on Edward's face, when they had been investigating that Barry the Chopper fan serial killings. But Ed hadn't fainted. Both boys had been reminded of the result of the failed transmutation of their dead mother. He glanced towards Scarlet. Surprisingly, her face was devoid of any visible emotions. That girl was strong, just like Edward. She had already come to terms with that specific ghost of her past. Now back at the office, they were holding a discussion with the entire room about the case. Alphonse was present, ashamed of having fainted at the crime scene, he now tried his best to help out in the analysis of the crime.

"Was there anything in common with the victims?" asked the Soul Binding Alchemist.

"Besides the method of the killing? Not really," answered Havok, his trade mark cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"All the victims were female, blonde and range in age from 17 to 20," said Mustang, with a glance towards Scarlet, who was presently poring over a couple of documents.

"Well _that_ certainly narrows down the list of potential victims," she muttered sarcastically, flipping a page.

"The sarcasm isn't necessary, Lieutenant-Colonel," sighed Hawkeye, "It puts you in that category," said the older woman.

Scarlet laughed sourly at that, then scowled.

"I've got a lot of people who would love to kill me…"she said, and then suddenly she was staring at one page.

"All of these wounds look like they were from a sword…the ex-Fuhrer uses swords…"

Mustang looked at her through one eye.

"Do you always believe the Homunculi to be behind everything?" he asked wearily.

"Well they _might_ be," said Alphonse suddenly, "They were behind the Ishbalan Extermination…"

"As well as the murder of Hughes-san…" added the General quietly. Everyone fell silent at that.

"Well," said Scarlet, breaking the uneasy silence, "If we're all done here, I'll be going home now…" she said, getting up. With that, everyone left the room.


	4. Chapter 4: First Encounters

_One Week later_

The young woman glanced around furtively as she walked down the dimly lit alleyway. Personally she didn't really want to be there, but it was the one way to get to her apartment…She'd heard that terrible things could happen in this place.

Envy, Wrath and Pride sat at the top of one of the buildings watching the young woman walking down the alleyway.

"Bad choice, choosing tonight of all times, to go out for a stroll," snickered Envy.

He loved this newest mission. In order to draw the military's attention away from what they were planning, Father had ordered them to distract the military, in any way possible.

They didn't really have to distract the higher-ups, because most of them were to dumb to notice what was going on, even if it was right in front of their face, but that General Mustang was a tricky one.

It had been Wrath's idea to go on a human killing spree, and Envy chose the criteria of their victims, to give the General a stronger urge to find the killer.

"She looks scared," noted Pride, scratching his arm.

"Well of course she does, all humans look scared. Right before they die that is…" smiled Envy. That wasn't really true. There were some humans that didn't get those pathetic looks on their faces when faced with death. Actually, some faced it laughing their heads off, but then again, those people were crazy.

"Two of you, shut up," growled Wrath, officiously, "Next time, I won't let you tag along if you keep this up…" he sniffed.

Envy shot him a murderous glare. The stupid eye-patch brat had gotten really stuck up ever since he became Fuhrer. Just because he looked older, didn't mean that he was. In fact, next to Pride, he was one of the youngest.

Suddenly, Wrath was gone, leaving Envy and Pride sitting on the roof tops. There was a scream and then gunshots.

"Oh...bummer…it was a trap…" sighed Envy, looking down at the alleyway. A smile suddenly broke out on his face. Pride seemed to notice it.

"What? You know these people?"

"State Alchemists. Ones we already know," smiled Envy maliciously.

The trap had succeeded…barely. The bait, the headquarter building's front door secretary lay dead on the floor, a few metres from where the ex-Fuhrer stood.

"You used a real woman this time. Possibly because your usual bait is unavailable?" asked the Homunculus.

"Shut up!" growled Mustang, understanding the allusions to Edward completely.

During the Barry the Chopper fan investigation, Mustang had forced Fullmetal to dress up as a woman in an attempt to capture the culprit. The ploy had worked magnificently, although Mustang had paid for it dearly with the next day's morning tea. Hot sauce, instead of milk…

"King Bradley…or should I call you Wrath?" said Alphonse, stepping forward.

The eye-patched man looked to the boy.

"So you know what I am? And you're both still alive…To believe such an excellent Human sacrifice wasted himself on the two of you is beyond me…" he started to say, when a feather flew into his eye. Scarlet, moved out from behind Mustang.

"Shut up and bring it on. I'm tired of listening to you talk…" drawled Scarlet.

So _that_'s what the feathers were for…thought Mustang surprised.

"It appears that I am outnumbered. Perhaps we should even them out a bit…Envy! Pride!" he shouted. Nothing happened and no one came.

"Envy! Pride? GUYS? This is no time for jokes!" roared the ex-Fuhrer.

Unfortunately for Wrath, the State Alchemists knew an opportunity when they saw one. There was a small explosion, and purple smoke covered the area, flames popping up everywhere, and spikes coming out from the floor and walls.

"It'll take more than that to kill me!" said Wrath, as his flesh regenerated around him.

"Do you know why they call me the Scarlet Alchemist?" he heard the girl's voice say.

"It's because, the places I go to tend to be blood red after I leave…" she said as he exploded.

Mustang saw it clearly. The feather she had thrown into the Homunculi's eye had acted as a relay for the transmutation circle she had drawn with her foot. But he had a rough idea that she could do a great deal more than that…

He exploded, just as she had expected him to. But what his remains were surprised her. She saw a shining red stone amidst the bloody remains of the Homunculus. She bolted forward towards it. She had to destroy that, if she didn't he would come back and she would most likely not get a chance to do this…. Clapping her hands as she ran towards the creature coming out of the stone, she slammed her hands down on the ex-Fuhrer's face.

There was an explosion, and an intense white light enveloped the entire city block.

"Holy shit!" exclaimed Envy, shielding his eyes. Pride didn't seem to mind the light, and simply watched.

"That girl…" he heard Edward Elric's voice say, "She killed him…" he whispered as the light died down.

"Scarlet-san! Scarlet-san? Are you alright?" shouted Alphonse Elric's voice down below.

"What do we do now?" asked Pride, "Envy?"

The green-haired Homunculus was shaken. There had never been anyone before who could kill a Homunculus so easily, other than Father. The usual way had been to kill one until all the lives of the Philosopher's stone were used up, which was by no means an easy feat.

"Envy?" he heard Edward's voice ask. An idea came into the purple-eyed teenager.

"We say hi…"he grinned sinisterly.

"Scarlet, just what did you do?" asked Mustang, in stunned shock. The girl was on her hands and knees out of breath, and breathing hard.

"I…I…" she started to say, when she suddenly doubled over and vomited blood.

"Scarlet!" shouted Alphonse putting a hand on her back. The girl clutched at her stomach with dry racking coughs.

"Crap…" she managed to croak out, before vomiting again.

"Why hello there, little missie!" drawled an all too familiar voice, "I'm afraid I don't have the pleasure of your acquaintance yet," grinned the palm tree like, green haired, gender confused, shape shifting Homunculus, Envy.

"Envy!" roared Alphonse angrily. He had an unsettled score with that guy. Suddenly, his mind turned to a blank fuzz, his eyes not believing what they saw.

"Nii…san…" he whispered softly, staring at the spitting image of his older brother staring back at him.

"NII-SAN!" he shouted, running towards him. The General suddenly grabbed him from behind and held him tight.

"Al, NO! That isn't Fullmetal! That isn't Ed!" he shouted, trying to restrain the boy.

"NII-SAN! NII-SAN!" screeched Alphonse Elric, desperately to the emotionless image of his beloved brother.

"Envy, what are we doing?" asked the Edward look-alike in a bored tone, "Wrath's dead. Father's going to be furious," he said, completely ignoring the General, Alphonse and Scarlet.

"What did you do to him?" demanded Mustang, holding Alphonse back.

"We remade him," said Envy simply, "He's perfect now."

"Nii-san…" pleaded Alphonse weakly.

"Who are these people anyway?" asked the blonde Homunculus, pointing at them.

Alphonse broke into tears at that. Envy ignored both Pride and Alphonse, instead had all his attention focused on Scarlet.

"Why…You'd be that Dolan brat!" said Envy peering closely at her, "Those nosy reporters' kid…" he grinned.

"Were you the one who killed them?" she said hoarsely.

Envy didn't answer the girl's question, instead turned to the Edward Homunculus.

"Let's go Pride," he said.

"Shouldn't we kill them?" asked Pride, "That girl killed Wrath. Shouldn't we get rid of them?"

"Nii-san…"sobbed Al softly.

"You know, funny as that would be, we're not going to. Why?" said Envy grinning, "Because I don't feel like it," he said finishing his own sentence.

"Let's go Pride," he said jumping up a building. What had been the Fullmetal Alchemist followed suit, and vanished into the night.


	5. Chapter 5:Sacrifices

Two months out of the hospital, and he found himself back in one. Scarlet had been ill, ever since that encounter with the Homunculi. Despite her protests that she really was fine, and that they needn't worry, Mustang found out that she was a terrible liar. The doctors said that she wouldn't be fine for at least another month, and even after that, she'd have to take it easy for about a year. He found that Scarlet simply hated to be fawned and worried over. Her argument for getting him the hell out of her room was,

"Alphonse-kun needs your support more than I do."

In a way, Scarlet was right. But he hated to admit that the girl was right. She was almost just like Edward, except female. The effect of seeing the Homunculus Pride on Alphonse's mind was almost catastrophic. The boy had gone through a complete nervous breakdown, and was prone to crying at the very uttering of the syllables of his brother's name, meaning that one couldn't even say 'red' in front of the boy.

Presently, they were in Scarlet's room discussing the strange events of the murder investigation.

"Scarlet-san, just exactly what did you do Wrath?" asked Alphonse, sitting close to the hospital bed.

The sixteen year old girl took a long drink of water before answering.

"I sacrificed him," she said placing the cup back on the bedside table.

"H-How does that work?" asked the brown-haired boy hopelessly confused.

"When I exploded him," said Scarlet, tapping the feathers in her hair, "I saw a shining red stone among all those bits and pieces. The Homunculi are built around a Philosopher's stone, and that's what that rock was," she said, filling her glass again.

"Thinking about it, that does explain the Homunculi's multiple lives and regeneration ability," said Mustang stroking his chin, "But how were you able to come to such a conclusion so quickly?" he asked watching the girl down another glass of water.

"They told me," she said wiping her mouth.

"WHAT!" exclaimed Alphonse horrified.

"Well one of them did," she amended, leaning back.

"Which one?" demanded Mustang.

"He called himself Greed," she said, "He's not on their side. He defected apparently…" she added.

"Greed? He was in Dublith, at the Devil's Nest bar…" said Alphonse reflectively.

Scarlet looked surprised.

"He was in my hometown up North. I think he's been running around for the past couple years," she said.

"Why did he tell you about it?"

"Well, I was…maybe 8, I could do a bit of alchemy, and he was in a library, where I fixed some broken books. He told me a story about the Homunculi," she said, pouring herself, yet another glass of water.

"The story came along the format of 'Once upon a time', and 'they lived happily ever after'," she muttered as she drank.

"My parents died shortly after, so I committed that story to memory," she added softly.

"Greed's dead now…" said Alphonse softly.

"Pity," muttered Scarlet, "He could've helped…" she said when she suddenly vomited blood again.

"You've restored your internal organs," said Mustang, staring pointedly at her. Scarlet looked at him unrepentantly.

"That was my only real chance to do so. If I was to try to restore them through the law of Equal Exchange, there was no way for me to be able to pay up," she said.

"There were _people_, inside that stone…" growled Mustang.

"Those people are dead now. They had nothing to return to that could be called human," she retorted, "Understand, General Mustang, Equal Exchange with the Gate has a tendency to be exceptionally cruel," she growled.

"You're back…" said Lust, upon seeing the two of them.

"Where's Wrath?" she asked, after about three seconds had past, and the ex-Fuhrer was nowhere in sight.

Envy heaved an overly dramatic sigh.

"I've got good news and bad news," he said, closing his eyes.

"The bad news is Wrath is dead." Lust gasped at that. Not one of her fake mocking gasps but a real one for once.

"The good news is Wrath is dead," continued the green-haired teenager.

"I fail to see the humor in that Envy," said Lust in a no-nonsense tone of voice.

"The Flame General and the Soul Binder, were there," said Envy, "As was that Dolan girl…' he added.

"Dolan…Dolan…"repeated Lust to herself, thinking. She turned to Pride, refusing to speak to Envy, "You mean the Scarlet Alchemist?" she asked.

It was more likely that she'd get a more truthful answer from the blonde Homunculus than from the green one over there, she thought.

Pride nodded once and added, "She's the one who killed Wrath," he said simply. Envy was no longer really paying attention to anything, and was sitting on a table twiddling his thumbs.

"From what we know, the Scarlet Alchemist was under the General Basque-Gran's command, until his death, and then repeatedly transferred to a series of other people's commands until her 'death' in the North" said Lust.

"She's supposed to be dead?" asked Pride, looking a bit confused.

"Some military officials had arranged for her untimely demise at the Northern Front, but it seems she has managed to weasel her way out of it…" explained Lust.

"She appears to presently be under General Mustang's command," said Pride, "And has apparently found a way to kill Homunculi…" said the red marked Homunculus.

All three of them stared at each other in silence for a bit.

"Should we tell Him?" asked Pride, breaking the silence. They all traded looks, before deciding.

"Yeah…maybe we should…" sighed Envy. He hated having to report anything to that man…

"What do you mean, by _cruel_?" demanded Mustang.

"Remember the first time I met you two? Alphonse-kun here was saying that he would try to revive the Fullmetal Alchemist? I said that he would have to sacrifice an awful lot to do that," she said, downing another glass of water.

"Human transmutation is unlike any other type, the prices are quite high," she said.

_She's drinking an awful lot of water…_ thought Alphonse, watching her fill her glass again.

"What do you mean by prices?" asked the grey eyed boy.

"Try thinking of Equal Exchange as a shop," she said, "To get something, you pay a price. If you want the first something back, you return what you got from the shop. That's what it's like for normal transmutations, making it possible to undo even chemical changes," she said, "However," her eyes grew hard at that, "Human transmutation is an exception. The return policy on that type of transmutation is quite unfair. Not only do you have to return everything that you got out of it, but you have to pay more. It's like paying money to return something at the store," she turned to look at Alphonse in the eye.

"If you, Alphonse-kun, were to try and bring back your brother, you would have to sacrifice the ingredients to make a body of his size, and a couple hundreds of people to be able to get his soul back," she said.

"What are their lives to me in comparison to his?" demanded Alphonse, tears forming in his eyes.

"Let me finish," she reprimanded him sternly, "Not only would they have to be numerous; they would also have to mean something to you. You would have to come up with something or someone equal to what he meant to you. Meaning…" she took a deep breath before continuing, "you would have to sacrifice someone who is as close to you as he was. Not only would you be sacrificing people who mean nothing to you, you would have to sacrifice someone in your life who is just as precious as Edward Elric was," she said with dead finality.

Scarlet turned to Mustang.

"Do you understand now Roy? How hard it is to atone for the sins of those who've trespassed on God's territory?" she smiled weakly, "the only way to bypass that altogether is to use the Philosopher's Stone…"she smiled gently.

_She called me Roy..._ thought the General, exceptionally surprised by her sudden speech. Then he realized it.

"He didn't…he didn't…Did he?" spluttered Mustang.

Scarlet turned her eyes up to the ceiling.

"I think he did. There's no other way for that to have worked…Though I doubt they made the deal very cheap…" she said drowsily.

"What do you mean?" demanded Alphonse, upset at being left out of the loop.

"To restore you to your body, your brother made a deal with the Homunculi…He sacrificed part of one of them to get you back…" murmured Scarlet, her eyelids drooping.


	6. Chapter 6: I'm sorry but

ne

She stared at the sheet for about a minute, reading it all through. 

"Well…" was all she said.

"That's _all_ you've got to say?" asked General Roy Mustang incredulously.

She looked up at him.

"It's hardly surprising, ever since my previous commanding officer found out that I was, most unfortunately, still alive…" she said, scratching her ear.

That was true, he supposed. Scarlet had worked directly under the Fuhrer at one point, before her untimely demise, that is.

"The last time I was there, the situation hadn't gotten so bad as to require _all_ State Alchemists to report there," she noted, putting the sheet down, on the bedside table.

"I thought so," he said, sitting down at the end of the bed.

"Though sending you up to the front lines, seems a bit suspicious in my opinion," she added.

"They came up with a good reason for that one," muttered the black haired man.

"My previous performance at the Ishbalan War and my wartime expertise, clearly designate me, as the most suitable person to lead the battle. Not to mention that I am the renowned Flame Alchemist…" he said, just as the door opened.

"Alphonse-kun!" exclaimed Scarlet, seeing the brown-haired boy come in. He looked dead tired, and even had circles under his eyes. He had a paper in his hand.

"You've heard?" he asked groggily, "with a war going on, we won't have time to search for Homunculi..." said the boy.

"Rather, if the Homunculi want us dead, they couldn't choose a better time…in the middle of a war…people can disappear and die quite easily, no explanation necessary," sighed the General, "Right now, all I'd rather think about something more pleasant..." said the General, getting a bored expression on his face.

"Like what?" chorused the two teenagers.

"Whether the women in the North are beautiful…" he sighed, just as a pillow and a water jug made contact with his face.

* * *

Envy was irritable again, making him unapproachable for some time. Pride was actually quite relieved for Envy's bad mood. That meant that his green-haired brother wouldn't be bugging him about anything, and he could read his books in peace. This guy Shakespeare was quite interesting… Just then, Lust walked into the library. Pride was not unduly concerned, Lust actually knew quite a lot about alchemy, and was a bit of a bookworm herself, and it was not unusual for her to come in to read a few books.

"Pride," said Lust suddenly.

"Hmmm?" answered Pride, not really paying attention to what his older sibling had to say.

"Pride," repeated Lust sternly.

"What?" he said, still reading.

"You're being sent North along with Envy," she said.

"Oh," he said, turning the page.

Lust refused to let her eyebrow twitch in irritation. Sometimes the Fullmetal Midget could seriously drive her insane. His simple disregard for orders when people talked to him was uncannily like the relationship between the shrimp and the Flame General…

"You're leaving. Now." She said with finality.

"That's nice…" he said, still not paying attention to her.

Though their personalities were completely different, there were some quirks that this newest Homunculus retained that were vintage Edward Elric. The habit of nodding off at the most peculiar times, getting absorbed in books, eating a lot, and doing the little things that pissed people off, like being better than they were, even though he was so small...

"Pride…" started Lust threateningly, when she noticed that the blonde Homunculus was gone.

* * *

Scarlet packed her bags. This war was going to be trouble. Not only was the risk of dying prominent, she had a sick feeling in her stomach that this war was arranged by the Homunculi. Having worked up North, she knew that the situation there was not that bad, unless something rather unpleasant had happened. Mustang would probably say that she was just seeing Homunculi conspiracies everywhere. She usually countered that by saying that he saw conspiracies all the time, especially within the military. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," she called, as the door opened slowly.

"Oh…Alphonse-kun! What are you doing here?" she said looking over to the teenager in the doorway. The guy looked even shyer than usual, the way he shuffled his feet, and didn't really look up at her.

"Ummm…" he said, "Would…would it be alright with you, if we…uh…" stuttered Alphonse, not looking at her.

"What?" she asked, stuffing what appeared to be a pistol into her bag. Alphonse had been pretty soft spoken and reserved ever since that encounter with the Homunculus who looked like his older brother, but he was much more so today.

"Do you…Do you want to go get something at the café with me?" he managed to say loudly.

Scarlet looked up at him. She wasn't sure if she heard that properly. Did Alphonse just ask her out? She was surprised. Scarlet had never been in this type of situation before. She had faced some pretty scary life or death situations, but her social life outside of work was practically non-existent. The closest thing she had to a relationship outside of work was to the one book store owner in Central who got books from the distant Eastern country of Xing, she was a regular customer.

"Why not?" she asked, brushing her hair out of her eyes, "beats packing as a past time," she grinned at him.

Alphonse felt tense…This was the first time he had asked any girl out, ever. However, he wasn't sure if Scarlet really saw it as a date or not…Knowing her, she probably didn't. But that didn't really matter, he decided sitting down at a table with her. She was reading over a book of some sort.

"Uhh…Scarlet-san…are you really going to go to the war?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"Uh-huh," she said turning the page.

"You…You don't have to go…" he said suddenly.

"Wha-?" she said surprised looking up.

"Scarlet-san, you're still recovering from that incident! You can't go!" said Alphonse insistent.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" she demanded angrily.

"I'm your friend! I care about you!" he shouted back at her, "you're just like Nii-san…" he muttered softly after.

"Tell me Alphonse-kun," she said slowly after a moment's pause, "Was that your brother?" she asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Was the one called Pride your brother?" she said her eyes expressionless.

"…" he looked down at his hands.

"The Homunculi are planning something, your Nii-san must have found out what, so that happened," she said looking straight at him, "No matter how much that thing looked like Edward Elric, that wasn't him."

Alphonse looked at her.

"How do you know so much?" he asked incredulously.

"I paid the price, and worked hard. It helps having a brain too," she added with a tight smile.

"What makes you say that it isn't him?" demanded Alphonse, after a few moments.

She leaned back and put her feet on the table.

"Would your brother have threatened to kill you?"

"No," was the immediate response.

"Would he join forces with the Homunculi?"

"No," said Alphonse, even though he wasn't so sure. If what Scarlet said was true, it meant that he had joined forces with them, even if it was only to save him…

"Would he ever wear such a girly outfit?" she asked.

"No!" exclaimed Alphonse, suddenly remembering what the Homunculus that resembled his brother wore; Ed had already been indignant about wearing a womanly overcoat during the Barry the Chopper Fan investigation, the skirt and tight shirt would have been looked at with veritable disgust.

"Then it wasn't him," she said, "I hope this conversation has made you feel better, Alphonse Elric..." said Scarlet, getting up and leaving. Alphonse just watched her go. He began to wonder: How on earth could she know so much about…everything?

* * *

God damn it, this is so boring…" moaned Envy, lying down. Pride felt like kicking him. He had been going on and on for at least a week. A pity he couldn't move other people the way he could move himself. By disassembling and rejecting all atomic bonds of every substance in his body, he could effectively travel over very large distances and then reassemble himself in another place. In short, Pride could teleport.

Sitting down next to Envy's head, Pride was reading a book.

"Envy, would you quiet down? If you keep this up, someone is bound to notice and look up here…" said Pride irritably.

They were traveling with the military convoy in order to keep an eye on the Flame, Soul Binding and Scarlet Alchemists. The Scarlet Alchemist especially. The girl's knowledge was freakishly accurate, and the girl herself was far too dangerous to be let alone. If she found out what they were planning, which Father was pretty sure she would…Their very existence could be put to the test.

Unfortunately, they couldn't travel _in_ the convoy, Edward Elric's face would be easily recognized, if not by the Flame General's direct subordinates, then by the masses who had heard of the Fullmetal Alchemist. And since Envy wasn't able to teleport, the two Homunculi traveled _on top_ of the military convoy. Literally. The two were sitting on top of the train the convoy was taking towards the North. Though why Pride was stuck with Envy, he didn't know.

Personally, he felt especially irritated having been saddled with his green-haired sibling. Not only was Envy whiny, he was excessively demanding and at most times was very annoying. On top of that, Pride had still not forgiven Envy for the sofa incident. The rumors Lust had spread amongst everyone else were most embarrassing. His pride had been hurt, and Pride took that very seriously.

"But it's soooooo boring," whined Envy. Pride felt himself clench his fists in irritation, and maybe, just maybe, a blood vessel to pulse in his forehead…

"Envy…sometimes…I wonder why I don't kill you…"growled Pride.

Envy looked over to him and grinned.

"Because you can't, shrimp…" he smiled.

Envy grinned to see Pride's fist shake. Recently he began to act more and more like Edward Elric, which was a refreshing change in Envy's opinion, although Father seemed slightly concerned about it. The old man was just being a worry wart. Edward Elric was gone for good, and Envy knew it for sure. Pride only acted like the Fullmetal midget when his dignity and pride were at stake, which was almost every time he was in Envy's presence.

It made sense to Envy as well. Edward Elric's greatest sin was his pride. He was a bit full of himself, thinking he could take on the Homunculi, his inability to take a slight to his height…the little shrimp was far too proud for his own good. That's why there was such a similarity between the two…

* * *

"I've always hated trains…"growled Scarlet as she twiddled her thumbs. Alphonse looked out the window at the passing countryside.

"Train rides are nice, you can just sit and you don't get seasick or anything," he said looking over towards the blonde girl.

"It's not that…I had a large tendency to almost die every time I stepped on board one…" she muttered, "Hi-jacking, terrorist bombing, gas leak, a strike, and my insides decided to protest the absence of some of the others…" she said, listing them on her fingers.

"Well, at least you won't have to worry about that anymore," said Hawkeye, looking out the window, "Your insides that is…" she said with a smile. Hawkeye had used to baby-sit the girl when she was younger, and she could always manage to see Scarlet as her baby self whenever the girl had a temper tantrum, which recently, had been very often. Scarlet probably resented that bit, but said nothing whenever Hawkeye made references to it.

"It's not going to be pretty when we get there, and will probably look even worse after," mumbled Havok around his cigarette, "I heard that in Ishbal, the fields the State Alchemists went to, no one and nothing was left…" he said, chewing on the end of a sandwich.

"How can you eat and smoke at the same time?" asked Fuery in disgust and awe.

"Shut up, I can eat however the hell I want to!" said Havok defensively.

"I seriously doubt it tastes good, in fact I believe I read a paper once, saying that smoking was…" Falman started to say, when Breda covered his mouth.

"Shhhhhhh…Never say that to Havok! You will regret it immensely!" whispered the orange haired man loudly.

Mustang stared at them with incredulity.

"These people are my subordinates…?" he wondered aloud.

"Get used to it," said Scarlet, taking a long drink from her water bottle, "It's the equal exchange for being a jerk…" she said, screwing the bottle cap back on.

Mustang felt his eyebrow twitch in irritation.

"Are _you_ really my subordinate?" he asked her.

* * *

"Essentially, defeat is unacceptable," sighed Mustang, "Technically, we are infinitely more advanced technologically and alchemically than they are, so the higher-ups threatened to have us shot if we lose," he said scratching his head.

"It also doesn't help with all these reports I've been getting," muttered Scarlet, "Somehow or other, the rebels have been armed with weapons that are just as good as ours, in fact they are ours…according to this eyewitness statement," said Scarlet. She looked over towards Mustang.

"How many people up there want you dead?" she asked.

"Quite a few actually…They never really got over my promotion to General," admitted Mustang.

"Oh good. That explains the weapons…" she said flipping through the reports. Suddenly she stopped.

"Well…well this is interesting…" she said scanning the report.

"What?"

"Apparently the Fullmetal Alchemist has been spotted in no-man's land…" she said handing the sheet to the General.

Mustang took it and read it.

"So they followed us…" he growled.

"Seems quite likely," said Scarlet, "Though how they got here without being seen until now is hard to believe…where's Alphonse?" she asked.

"He's with Hawkeye, learning how to fire a gun," said Mustang, "Personally, I would like to see him out of here, but the most I could do was put him in the reserves," he said rubbing his head in frustration.

"It'd be best if we kept this from him," said Scarlet, not looking up at Mustang, "Alphonse still sees Edward when he looks at that thing, despite however much he tries to convince himself differently," she said somberly.

"Yeah…you're probably right about that…" said Mustang.

"What are you talking about?" exclaimed Scarlet indignantly, "I'm _always_ right!"

"Silence Lieutenant!" shouted Mustang.

"That's Lieutenant-Colonel!" she shouted back at him.

Outside the room, Havok covered his ears.

"Man…why do they have to be so loud, so early in the morning?"

"It's the Flame and Scarlet Alchemist, what do you expect them to be? Quiet?" asked Breda.

"What does scarlet have to do with noise?" retorted Havok, "Nothing!"

"Why _is_ she called the Scarlet Alchemist anyway?" asked Fuery rubbing his head. He had just come back from the communications post and had some new reports and orders for the General.

Sergeant-Major Fuery had always been in awe of alchemists, especially the General, but that was more for the Flame Alchemist's ability to steal any man's girlfriend.

"Rumors say that she obtained the qualifications shortly after Edward Elric did, and was immediately put under Basque-Gran" said Falman, coming over.

"Basque-Gran? That means she can do something that he deemed useful to the military…like weapons…"

"State Alchemists _are_ weapons…human weapons" said the girl coming up behind them, "That's what we are used for, although we were originally supposed to help the public, instead we kill them. Which is just the way it is," said the girl, looking at the older men.

"So…what can you do?" asked Havok curiously.

"Do you _want_ to know?" she asked glaring at him.

"Uh…yes…" he said, withering under the girl's fiery blue glare.

"Count yourself lucky I don't use you as a demonstration…" she growled walking away.

"What's gotten into her?" asked Havok, watching the girl leave.

"We're beginning the assault tomorrow morning," announced Mustang to his group. This announcement was greeted with indignant, shocked and outrages exclamations of "WHAT?!?" by everyone, except for Scarlet, to whom this was no surprise.

"This shouldn't come as a surprise to you guys, you're soldiers, we take orders and die where we're told to," said Scarlet moodily, toying with a feather in her hands.

Alphonse looked nervous, too nervous. He was fidgeting and shaking visibly, noted Mustang looking carefully at the boy. Scarlet was right. It would be best to keep Alphonse in the dark about the Homunculi's presence. It probably would scare the living daylights out of the boy. It would also be best if they kept Alphonse Elric out of the battle. The boy's nerves probably wouldn't be able to handle the death and destruction of a battlefield, and he wouldn't be able to accept the fact that he would be responsible for hundreds of deaths. How Scarlet was fine with it was beyond him. The girl had suddenly become exceedingly cold as soon as they had reached the military post.

He was _not_ looking forward to the next morning...

* * *

**OKay...if you people want to know what happens next, you're going to be in for a disappointment. Due to the extreme lack of feeback, chapter whatever number this is, will be entirely in point form, because this document is taking up WAY too much room on my already poor, overworked computer. Don't blame me, it's because of the lack of reviews/feedback from people I happen to not know, that made me do this...**


	7. Chapter 7

**WARNING: as mentioned in the previous chapter, this is ENTIRELY in Point Form.**

* * *

-Everyone goes into battle Alphonse gets shot, but doesn't die

-Everyone is worried, Envy and Pride are hiding out watching everything that goes on

-Scarlet is inspecting the winter gear when she accidentally stumbles into Envy and Pride, who then essentially kidnap her for interrogation, seeing as she knows WAY too much.

-It is revealed the Scarlet attempted Human transmutation on her older brother and is deemed a suitable Human Sacrifice. Also revealed that it wasn't Envy who killed her parents, who were reporters (and 'accidentally' stumbled upon certain people talking), but Wrath (a.k.a the Fuhrer).

-Scarlet goes into berserk rage and kills Wrath, dying in the process.

-In the same process of creating Pride!Ed, Father creates a new Wrath, using Scarlet's dead body.

-Meanwhile on the ground, Alphonse and co. are all trying to find Scarlet, who has reportedly been kidnapped by the Drachman forces.

-Alphonse goes semi-crazy and decimates the enemy forces, essentially winning the entire war

-Mustang finds evidence of the Homunculi being involved in Scarlet's disappearance, while inspecting the terrain.

-Alphonse, upon discovering the tunnel, goes straight in, without telling anyone.

-Envy, Pride and the new Wrath, 'greet' Alphonse, by beating the crap out of him.

-Alphonse, somehow manages to pull himself together and takes down Pride, forcing him to remember being Edward Elric, and sacrifices himself and his 'brother' going beyond the gate.

-Mustang who has been running around for the past while, finally makes it into the tunnel, seeing Al and 'Ed' die once again.

-Envy sends Mustang on a guilt trip, and tells him that they'll let him live until he's needed (for a Human Sacrifice)

**Ending lines:**

Mustang looked at the spitting image of the Scarlet Alchemist's face, her expression blank and devoid of any emotion.

"It's time for you to go now, Mr. Flame Alchemist…" smirked the green-haired Homunculus, indicating the way out.

"I hope you don't forget our bargain…"

Slowly he took staggering steps towards the exit. _Alphonse…Scarlet…Edward…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…_

**In order to gain something, one must give something of the same value.  
This is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange.**

**At that time, we believed that to be the world's one and only truth.**

The End

* * *

As mentioned in the previous chapter, this is what happens: in point form. This is what happens when you don't give the author enough feedback to feel like they should actually keep writing, when they come up with something they deem more worthwhile. If you did write a review, sorry. If you actually liked this story and wanted to see more, and didn't review, then next time, REVIEW. 


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